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Searching for supplemental trip insurance in addition to Tauck’s Guest Protection Plan. Any advice from seasoned Tauckers?
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Searching for supplemental trip insurance in addition to Tauck’s Guest Protection Plan. Any advice from seasoned Tauckers?
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Allianz for comprehensive coverage and we’ve used Geoblue for additional medical coverage.
Since Tauck increased it’s coverage post Covid, I think that is sufficient
Speaking from some personal experience, buying extra travel insurance depends on what exactly you wish to cover. The website squaremouth.com is helpful for comparisons. A seasoned travel agent, if you can find one, can also be helpful.
When we got Covid in Europe last year, we were just about to join a secondary non-Tauck tour for which we had bought Travelguard insurance. We quarantined for 5 nights in an expensive hotel, our choice, but we were too ill to move. The Tauck policy would not have been enough (at the time) to cover our hotel. (I understand the Tauck Aon policy has since been upgraded in this regard). We filed a secondary claim with Travelguard and were able to get back almost all the rest of the hotel expenses. Travelguard was fairly easy to deal with, especially given that the insurance companies were slammed with Covid around that time. Note that if you are filing a claim for illness, you will need official documentation such as an official Covid test or some type of doctor’s certificate. In our case, we got the official Covid test and also got telephone appointments with our doctors back home. This made it much easier for our doctor to fill out his part of the insurance claim. Travelguard accepted the telephone appointment in lieu of an in-person visit.
We are taking another non-Tauck trip in the future where interestingly an Aon package was offered, but the medical evacuation part was very little. This is where you can really get into big costs. I was told by the travel agent that medical evacuation costs can be well over $100,000 or more depending on the distance and mode of transportation. We did buy extra insurance for that trip and chose a Travelex policy.
It really helps to educate yourself as much as possible before you buy. For example, trip cancellation BEFORE your trip should be covered by your Tauck policy. But keep in mind that anything you have purchased or planned outside of a Tauck tour will not be covered by the policy.
Once the tour starts, if you need to leave, then you are dealing with Trip Interruption, and this happened to us when Dad got sick and passed away in April. The glitch here is that we had bought business class tickets to Europe, but once you already depart, even if you only managed to get in a day or two of your tour, you will generally not be reimbursed for your ticket, but should be reimbursed for any costs to change the ticket. Travelex claims they will cover this, so I did buy an extra policy from them for an upcoming Tauck trip. Insurance-speak is very tricky so I’m skeptical whether they might actually cover it. I did get the phone agent’s information and time of call.
Alliance is another company that our travel agent recommended.
Lastly, my husband and I have decided to purchase a Medjet policy, which is a medical evacuation service only. If you are stable in a foreign hospital and cleared for transport, and your home hospital accepts you, Medjet will fly you there. Otherwise for most other insurances they will just get you to the nearest hospital. As you probably are aware, there is a line of thinking that says “save your money and buy evacuation insurance only, most people can eat up other smaller losses”. I like having extra peace of mind.
I will say that extra insurance is REALLY expensive. When I spoke to the Travelex agent (a Berkshire Hathaway company), she suggested that I also look at Seven Corners, which was a bit cheaper.
All the above is what I understand currently. I am happy to be corrected and keep learning, but I hope I have at least given a foundation for what questions to ask and what to look for.
Wan, a fantastic review. We have used Squaremouth for a couple of non Tauck trip’s recently. You definitely have to read each insurance on their website very carefully as they are all slightly different. One thing for sure, if you add Trip cancellation, it about doubles the price. When you see what other tour companies insurance prices are, you realize what a good deal Tauck’s insurance is. I guess they get a good rate because of the volume of customers.
We have had annual emergency evacuation insurance for several years now, so it covers any trips we take that are more than 100 miles from home as well as out of the country. If you are admitted to hospital, as soon as you are stable, they will arrange to get you home or to a hospital near your home with a nurse escort if required. . If you had your own car there, they will transport that back too etc etc
For a recent trip, we got insurance for the vacation but not the flight as it was economy and not too expensive and we figured if we got a voucher we could probably use it within a year unless an illness made us permanently not able to travel. That helped reduce the cost a little.
Everyone has to assess the risks they want to take and how much reserve money they have if they don’t get insured to cover any catastrophic occurrence.
WOW! I came to the right place for advice. Thanks so much for all the terrific replies. I now have all the information I need. Happy, healthy and safe travels.